biorxiv Document Editing v13.docx

<p>Different journals have
different in-house styles. For example, some journals have no limit to the
number of Figures allowed in a manuscript whereas others are more restrictive
but allow Supplementary Information: however, whereas some journals allow
inclusion of “Extended Data” (Nature journals), other journals preclude any
form of “Supplemental Information” (<i>e.g.</i>,
Journal of Neuroscience), whilst others allow “Supplemental Information” (Cell)
or “Supplementary Information” (Science). Collectively, researchers waste
thousands of hours when re-submitting manuscripts to different journals because
they have to convert one type of Caption Label into another type and then
usually have to manually re-number each item in the text.</p>
<p>This manuscript describes a
simple method for writing a manuscript which saves time, money and frustration.
I show how to generate customised Caption Labels (<i>e.g.</i>, “Extended Data”, “Supplementary Figure”, “Supplementary Note”
or “Supplemental Table”). Each type of Caption Label is numbered automatically
according to its order in the text (<i>e.g.</i>,
“Supplementary Video 1”). I show how to convert one type of Caption Label to
another (<i>e.g.</i>, turn all “Extended
Data” into conventional “Figures”). Finally, I show how one can insert, delete
or re-order material using cut-and-paste such that all the numbering (in Figure
Legends and in the main body of the text) is updated automatically with two
clicks. This method works in Microsoft Word and also in Open Office. The
Figures and additional material for a manuscript can be converted into a
different format in a few minutes. This method should help researchers save
thousands of hours and tax dollars.</p>